Lessons from Cyclocross

If I wasn't so worried about breaking something and forsaking my triathlon season, I would probably do more CX races. In between bouts of fear, I had the occasional "F_ _ yeah, this is fun!" moment while racing. And after watching the video my friend Jesse made, I don't look nearly as bad as I felt. Post-race, Charisa and I reflected and we both agreed it's good to get out of our comfort zone and do something that we, how should I put this, suck at?

Here are the lessons that I'll take with me into the upcoming 2013 triathlon racing season:

There's a difference between being conservative/realistic and being wimpy. I was being wimpy at the start of the race, and I let the course and the other riders spook and intimidate me. I will not be wimpy in 2013.

If I had raced the technical sections with the same attitude as I had with running my bike through the deep sand, I would have placed a lot higher. Every time I hit the sand section, I told myself that I owned the section and that nobody in the field could outrun me in the sand. I wish I had taken that attitude with the rest of the course. Attitude makes such a huge difference.

I need to do more things with my brother, he's an awesome guy and he's a great older brother. It was so cool how he waited for me on the course and we finished the race together.

Traveling to races with friends trumps going solo. Yeah, you have to coordinate more and possibly have to wait for someone else a bit, but all worth it.

Flying mounts! I love flying mounts! If you are a skier or swim the butterfly, the feeling equates to carving through the snow or getting the timing down in fly. More flying mounts in 2013!

Off-Season Antics

This past weekend really felt like the official start of my off-season. Charisa needed a bit of R&R so she made her way up to SF. My XMAS present to her was to give her a tour of SF via the GOCAR! I cannot speak more highly of this tourist trap, worth every penny. Being that I'm a local, we decided to remove the GPS guided tour and instead, plug in Charisa's iPod, best move we made all day. We got lucky and was given the more powerful GOCAR, going upward to 50 MPH! As we drove through the city, blasting road trip music in our cab yellow, open air GOCAR, I soon realized we were spreading love throughout SF. Almost everybody who saw us in our car had the same wide-smile, laugh out loud reaction. I'm amazed that there were no restrictions as to where we could drive these cars, and we definitely pushed our luck with other cars trucking at 5 MPH up the SF hills.

The next day, I convinced Charisa to join me for my once every two years cyclocross race. The video above should give you a good idea of Charisa's virgin CX race. They changed the course from two years ago when I last did it, making it much more technical and throwing in everything that is CX: steep single track descents, sand, mud, gravel, water, and switchbacks. I made the poor decision of starting in the back, and let me tell you, the guys in the back of CX races make poor role models. They clip out for all of the wrong reasons, they brake way too much, take the wrong lines, and they have no endurance! Halfway through the second lap, I saw my brother stopped on the sideline waiting for me. From then on the race was really fun. My brother made a much better role model, and following him allowed me to spin through the gravel water pit effortlessly, charge through the sand, pedal through the deep mud, and attack the descents. I wish I had been more aggressive and gotten out in front with him during the first lap. I can't say CX is type 1 fun for me as I was white knuckled the entire time, and racing on edge, fearful of my next crash. When I race a triathlon, my only fear is not meeting my race performance expectations. The fun of CX races come when you are done and you haven't broken anything.